Police bump up reporting service for minor crimes

NewsDec 27, 2012Waterloo Region Record

WATERLOO REGION — Your backyard barbecue is stolen, but you don’t want to wait for a police officer to come to your house to report the crime.

Starting Jan. 21, Waterloo Regional Police will have a unit of 13 officers solely dedicated to taking reports of minor crimes either by telephone, by computer or from people coming to the Collision Reporting Centre, beside police headquarters on Maple Grove Road in Cambridge.

“This is about being as effective and efficient as we can be. It is also about improving our customer service and offering choice” in the reporting of minor crimes, said Staff Sgt. Sean Tout.

This new unit — called “differential police response” — is part of the service’s plan to find more efficient ways to police the community to improve response times to emergencies and gain more time for officers to do proactive policing, Tout said.

For years, police have offered reporting of less serious crimes by telephone or in person, but the level of service was not consistent as it was dependant on officer availability, he said.

Tout said police want to hear about minor crimes, such as a stolen barbecue, because the service may have recovered the stolen property, and the more information police have about crimes in the region, the better equipped they are to solve them.

Currently, 22 per cent of minor crimes are reported by telephone, and officers at the Collision Reporting Centre, field about 55 per cent of vehicle-related offences such as minor collisions or theft of vehicles. And in October, the service introduced online reporting of less serious offences, the officer said.

Tout predicts those numbers will increase based on the experience of American police services, which found that citizen-generated reports by telephone increased to as much as 46 per cent with the use of dedicated police teams to take those calls for service.

The new unit will accept reports regarding:

Theft of vehicle or theft from a vehicle

Damage or mischief to property

Damage or mischief to a vehicle

Lost property

Theft of property

The total cost of damages in any of these reported cases must be under $5,000.

Here is how the new system will work:

Call police administration number at 519-653-7700 or 519-570-3000.

A dispatcher will refer the information to this new unit if it is determined to be a minor offence. More serious cases will be referred to police to attend.

The differential police response team works Monday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. and on the weekends from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. People who call after hours will receive a call from one of these officers the next day.

Online reporting can be done through the police website at www.wrps.on.ca.

Police bump up reporting service for minor crimes

NewsDec 27, 2012Waterloo Region Record

WATERLOO REGION — Your backyard barbecue is stolen, but you don’t want to wait for a police officer to come to your house to report the crime.

Starting Jan. 21, Waterloo Regional Police will have a unit of 13 officers solely dedicated to taking reports of minor crimes either by telephone, by computer or from people coming to the Collision Reporting Centre, beside police headquarters on Maple Grove Road in Cambridge.

“This is about being as effective and efficient as we can be. It is also about improving our customer service and offering choice” in the reporting of minor crimes, said Staff Sgt. Sean Tout.

This new unit — called “differential police response” — is part of the service’s plan to find more efficient ways to police the community to improve response times to emergencies and gain more time for officers to do proactive policing, Tout said.

For years, police have offered reporting of less serious crimes by telephone or in person, but the level of service was not consistent as it was dependant on officer availability, he said.

Tout said police want to hear about minor crimes, such as a stolen barbecue, because the service may have recovered the stolen property, and the more information police have about crimes in the region, the better equipped they are to solve them.

Currently, 22 per cent of minor crimes are reported by telephone, and officers at the Collision Reporting Centre, field about 55 per cent of vehicle-related offences such as minor collisions or theft of vehicles. And in October, the service introduced online reporting of less serious offences, the officer said.

Tout predicts those numbers will increase based on the experience of American police services, which found that citizen-generated reports by telephone increased to as much as 46 per cent with the use of dedicated police teams to take those calls for service.

The new unit will accept reports regarding:

Theft of vehicle or theft from a vehicle

Damage or mischief to property

Damage or mischief to a vehicle

Lost property

Theft of property

The total cost of damages in any of these reported cases must be under $5,000.

Here is how the new system will work:

Call police administration number at 519-653-7700 or 519-570-3000.

A dispatcher will refer the information to this new unit if it is determined to be a minor offence. More serious cases will be referred to police to attend.

The differential police response team works Monday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. and on the weekends from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. People who call after hours will receive a call from one of these officers the next day.

Online reporting can be done through the police website at www.wrps.on.ca.

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Police bump up reporting service for minor crimes

NewsDec 27, 2012Waterloo Region Record

WATERLOO REGION — Your backyard barbecue is stolen, but you don’t want to wait for a police officer to come to your house to report the crime.

Starting Jan. 21, Waterloo Regional Police will have a unit of 13 officers solely dedicated to taking reports of minor crimes either by telephone, by computer or from people coming to the Collision Reporting Centre, beside police headquarters on Maple Grove Road in Cambridge.

“This is about being as effective and efficient as we can be. It is also about improving our customer service and offering choice” in the reporting of minor crimes, said Staff Sgt. Sean Tout.

This new unit — called “differential police response” — is part of the service’s plan to find more efficient ways to police the community to improve response times to emergencies and gain more time for officers to do proactive policing, Tout said.

For years, police have offered reporting of less serious crimes by telephone or in person, but the level of service was not consistent as it was dependant on officer availability, he said.

Tout said police want to hear about minor crimes, such as a stolen barbecue, because the service may have recovered the stolen property, and the more information police have about crimes in the region, the better equipped they are to solve them.

Currently, 22 per cent of minor crimes are reported by telephone, and officers at the Collision Reporting Centre, field about 55 per cent of vehicle-related offences such as minor collisions or theft of vehicles. And in October, the service introduced online reporting of less serious offences, the officer said.

Tout predicts those numbers will increase based on the experience of American police services, which found that citizen-generated reports by telephone increased to as much as 46 per cent with the use of dedicated police teams to take those calls for service.

The new unit will accept reports regarding:

Theft of vehicle or theft from a vehicle

Damage or mischief to property

Damage or mischief to a vehicle

Lost property

Theft of property

The total cost of damages in any of these reported cases must be under $5,000.

Here is how the new system will work:

Call police administration number at 519-653-7700 or 519-570-3000.

A dispatcher will refer the information to this new unit if it is determined to be a minor offence. More serious cases will be referred to police to attend.

The differential police response team works Monday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. and on the weekends from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. People who call after hours will receive a call from one of these officers the next day.

Online reporting can be done through the police website at www.wrps.on.ca.